Monday, March 19, 2007

Party On, Levon...Party On, Garth

It's been quite a 10-day stretch for your ol' pal Ace.

One weekend ago I caught 22 awesome cross-genre bands in gorgeous 80-degree weather at the Langerado music festival in Florida. Then mid-week, I became a card-carrying member of the beloved paparazzi when, like my wicked case of the herpes, I spread my amateur video of a wild NYPD shootout all over the Internets and television.

Finally, this weekend, when the rest of the country was all geeked up about green beer and bagels (and hinky green rivers), I couldn't contain my excitement for the Saturday night Levon Helm Band show at the Beacon Theater. Levon Fucking Helm, folks.

And as it turned out, the former drummer for The Band and one of my musical heroes turned in one of the more incredible, emotional performances I've seen in some time. I'll spare youse the full review on this site, but watching Dr. John sit in on Such A Night and Warren Haynes lead Levon's big band on I Shall Be Released may have been some of the finer moments I've had as a music fan.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that former Bandmate and current Amish hideout Garth Hudson came out during a surprise, special second encore for a sweet Hammond B3 solo on Take Me To the River. I snapped about 50 seconds of that magic for posterity:

Slack Video of the Day: Two great goals from the Premiership we need to feature this afternoon, so bare with me. The first comes from a goalkeeper's foot from his own half -- you gotta love that, no? Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson has been in terrible form this season, and he's been in danger of losing his starting spot as England's #1 to Watford keeper Ben Foster. So what happened this weekend? P-Rob scored a goal from his own half. On Ben Foster. From 80 yards out. In your face, kid.

The other goal comes from Manchester United's 4-1 drubbing of Bolton this weekend: Cristiano Ronaldo is on another planet right now, and say what you will about his diving, there ain't a player in the world that can match his pace. His teammate Wayne Rooney is really starting to hit top form as well, and one play this weekend featured the two of them taking the ball from their own end to the Bolton net for a goal in about 10 seconds, which was just sickening.

2 Comments:

It's possible. It's also possible that Chest Fever, Tears of Rage, and about eight others might be the best song ever written. I've often said, if I can go back in time and see one show, The Last Waltz would be it. And I'd be so spun, braahhhhhh.